McDonald's withdraws rezoning application

Tuesday

Jan 31, 2012 at 12:01 AMFeb 1, 2012 at 8:29 PM

A second attempt to clear the way for a double drive-through for the McDonald's restaurant at 6221 Cleveland Ave. was withdrawn from consideration by the Northland Community Council development committee last week before members could once again reject it as they did unanimously in late October.

KEVIN PARKS, ThisWeek Community News

A second attempt to clear the way for a double drive-through for the McDonald's restaurant at 6221 Cleveland Ave. was withdrawn from consideration by the Northland Community Council development committee last week before members could once again reject it as they did unanimously in late October.

Committee members also decided they had gotten so little information regarding a potential rezoning application for property on Morse Road that they could offer little in the way of an opinion regarding what might make the request something they could support, chairman Dave Paul said.

In the McDonald's situation, the revamped request for a zoning amendment failed to take into account the concerns development committee members expressed at their October hearing, namely that the existing curb cut permitting traffic to enter the restaurant parking lot off Cleveland Avenue is too close to the intersection with Community Park Drive. Instead of closing that entrance, the new proposal would have made it a right-turn-only exit.

"That is going to be a joke," committee member Dave Cooper commented, saying it would lead to traffic accidents as a result of fast-moving traffic on Cleveland Avenue having to slow down for cars entering and leaving the fast-food establishment.

Lynsey Ondecker of GDP Group, representing McDonald's USA LLC, faced with another rejection of the proposal by committee members, asked to have the case withdrawn from consideration. She said she would consult with the restaurant's real estate team about possibly sharing an entrance and exit off Cleveland Avenue with a Mexican restaurant just to the west of the McDonald's property.

The informal review of a rezoning request at 1448 Morse Road, site of the former Milano's Florist, was ostensibly to permit a Verizon Wireless cell phone tower to be erected on the property, but this would open the door to so much more, committee members indicated during the discussion.

"While we're not positive we're proceeding yet, we wanted everyone to be aware of where we're at," said attorney Shannon Martin of Bricker and Eckler, representing Verizon Wireless.

The switch from the current commercial planned development to straight commercial zoning would lift some of the existing restrictions on use of the 3-acre site, Martin said, including splitting the lot.

Her clients, she added, want to place a cell tower in about the middle of the property.

David M. Minger, a real estate official with the Lewis Center office of Verizon Wireless, said the proposed tower would be 90 feet tall.

"It's a toothpick that sticks up in the air," he said. "It's a fat toothpick, but it's a toothpick."

"You're coming before us with no plan," said committee member William Logan, who lives in the nearby Karmel Woodward Park subdivision.

The request for C4 zoning would be in keeping with most of the rest of the properties in that stretch of Morse Road, Minger replied. He added that the owner of the site inherited the property, with its restrictions, and had asked Verizon for assistance in getting those restrictions lifted.

"It would be an ideal location for a bar or a nightclub," Logan said.

The zoning being sought is already in place, according to attorney Martin. It's the CDP that prevents development of the site and removal of the deteriorating buildings on it, she said.

The owner of the parcel is actively entertaining offers for its sale, but no one will be willing to buy it with the current restrictions in place, Minger told committee members.

Without more information about what ultimately might be done if the rezoning is recommended for approval, committee members didn't feel they could provide the Verizon representatives with any more direction than was offered during the meeting, chairman Paul said.

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
ThisWeek Community News ~ 5300 Crosswind Drive, Columbus, OH 43228 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service